THERE'S A world of difference between real death metal and the wonky haircut-sporting fly-by-night facsimile that clogs up MySpace. The Plague Symphony are, thankfully, the real deal and they may just be precisely the shot in the arm that the Britsh scene needs. Unrefined, filthy and relentlessly bleak, 'The Black Gate' oozes purity of malicious intent and, despite its rawness, skilfully conjures up the spirit of pioneers like Morbid Angel and Immolation, with a bonus dose of primitive black metal's hateful harshness. Fast when it needs to be, slow and twisted when it doesn't, this is neither polished nor precise, but it's fucking fantastic all the same.